Deep thoughts thread

[Smucky]

I can't stand the "go green" stuff that just ends up requiring more resources to make

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[Smucky]

First Brands Group Bankruptcy Summary

First Brands Group, owner of major auto parts brands like FRAM filters, Raybestos brakes, and TRICO wipers, filed for bankruptcy in September 2025 with over $10 billion in debt.

What happened: The Cleveland company, owned by Malaysian investor Patrick James, collapsed after a failed $6.2 billion refinancing attempt. Debt prices cratered when lenders discovered major financial irregularities and off-balance-sheet financing through shell companies. One creditor claims $2.3 billion "simply vanished."

Warning signs ignored: Red flags included the CEO keeping his camera off during Zoom calls, refusal to provide invoice documentation, chronic late payments to suppliers, and 70% of revenue coming from selling unpaid invoices to financiers.

Current status: Emergency $1.1 billion loan secured to prevent immediate liquidation. Patrick James considering stepping down as CEO. Investigation ongoing into missing funds.

Why do I go to work if I can just own a company and gobble up billions and then file for bankruptcy

[NinjaPoodle]

First Brands Group Bankruptcy Summary

First Brands Group, owner of major auto parts brands like FRAM filters, Raybestos brakes, and TRICO wipers, filed for bankruptcy in September 2025 with over $10 billion in debt.

What happened: The Cleveland company, owned by Malaysian investor Patrick James, collapsed after a failed $6.2 billion refinancing attempt. Debt prices cratered when lenders discovered major financial irregularities and off-balance-sheet financing through shell companies. One creditor claims $2.3 billion "simply vanished."

Warning signs ignored: Red flags included the CEO keeping his camera off during Zoom calls, refusal to provide invoice documentation, chronic late payments to suppliers, and 70% of revenue coming from selling unpaid invoices to financiers.

Current status: Emergency $1.1 billion loan secured to prevent immediate liquidation. Patrick James considering stepping down as CEO. Investigation ongoing into missing funds.

Why do I go to work if I can just own a company and gobble up billions and then file for bankruptcy

You have goats, that's what is going to matter pretty soon.

[Smucky]

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[NinjaPoodle]

Hmm, I think I will plant some bamboo. Thanks for the heads up.

[Smucky]

This looks important I'll try to read it later if I remember.

[Smucky]

I'll look into this when I get cancer

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[Smucky]

trollolol

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[NinjaPoodle]

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[Smucky]

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[Smucky]

trollolol part 2

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[Smucky]

Penny auction at foreclosed Michigan farm (1936). At penny auctions farmers would conspire to offer low bids, resulting in a low return to the creditor. The final buyer would then return the property to the destitute farmer. Hangman nooses served as a warning to squirrelly bidders.

This haunting photograph from 1936 captures a penny auction at a foreclosed farm in Michigan, one of the most defiant and ingenious acts of resistance to emerge during the Great Depression. When banks repossessed farms after families could no longer meet their mortgage payments, local communities often took matters into their own hands.

Farmers would gather in large groups and agree beforehand to bid only pennies on each item — from livestock to land — driving the auction prices down to virtually nothing. The final “buyer,” usually a trusted neighbor, would then return the property to the original owner, ensuring the family could remain on their land.

The nooses seen hanging in the background weren’t decorative; they served as chilling warnings to outsiders who might attempt to outbid the crowd. These were not empty threats — solidarity and survival left little room for betrayal.

The penny auctions became powerful symbols of rural unity and defiance. They weren’t just about saving one farm, but about preserving a way of life, one desperate bid at a time.

Added Fact: By 1933, more than 200,000 farms were foreclosed across the Midwest, sparking organized movements like the Farmer’s Holiday Association, which fought to halt foreclosures entirely.

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